The Forgotten Girl

By: David Bell

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

The past has arrived uninvited at Jason Danvers’s door - and it’s his younger sister, Hayden, a former addict who severed all contact with her family as her life spiraled out of control. Now she’s clean and sober but in need of a desperate favor - she asks Jason and his wife to take care of her teenage daughter for 48 hours while she handles some business in town. But Hayden never returns. And her disappearance brings up more unresolved problems from Jason’s past, including the abrupt departure of his best friend on their high school graduation night 27 years earlier. When a body is discovered in the woods, the mysteries of his sister’s life - and possible death - deepen. And one by one these events will shatter every expectation Jason has ever had about families, about the awful truths that bind them and the secrets that should be taken to the grave.

©2014 David J. Bell (P)2014 Recorded Books

Great story!

I loved the story. It keeps you thinking and is very interesting. David Bell is a fantastic author.

Bana-didn't hold my attention

seemed like I was lessening to the same chapter over and over. I know there's a need to for reputation of key points but it needed more substance

a lotta words, very little plot

I kept waiting for this to get better. it didn't happen. it was a lot of words for so little plot. for a while I was getting fed up with the foreshadowing of the foreshadowing which turned into a plot twist, which was no surprise. then the author wrapped it up in a tight little bow at the end. at that point, I still wasn't invested in the characters. it would have gone better if the author had written characters we could care about and given them a challenging and mysterious situation. but that wasn't it.

Narration was terrible, story was Meh

The narrator did fine with men’s voices, except one he made sound like Elmer Fudd, but the women were horrible, especially Reagan. Story was not very gripping and everyone’s reaction to the ending was anticlimactic.

keeps you hooked

this story seemed to tromp over all the things we leave behind, decisions, regrets, the awkward moments in high school, the terrible way people can treat one another, family or friends. the suspense throughout was so uncomfortable and filled with dread, wrapped up in family dysfunction and addiction and small town BS. it's a good read for sure. heart wrenching.

Distracting narration

Would you try another book from David Bell and/or Dan John Miller?

mmmmaybe but probably not

How could the performance have been better?

I have listened to other books by this narrator, and his female characters are not strong, but in this case all of the womens' voices were cloyingly high like a humorous "ditzy" voice. It colored my perception of the female characters and was just bad.

character development poor

What would have made The Forgotten Girl better?

better story better development of characters, very hazy on most everything, no follow through, who was Collin?? why was he even there?? does he not know the difference between a skeleton and a newly dead body?

Would you ever listen to anything by David Bell again?

I doubt I would listen to David Bell’s books again, this was a book club book, there was some discussion, not much, though.

Have you listened to any of Dan John Miller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I did like to listen to Dan John Miller, he did make the story worth listening to.